I bought a Sony NEX 7 last year for the same reasons and I have been stunned by the results. When I dug my D300 out of the cupboard a couple of weeks ago to stick on EBay I was shocked at the size and weight of it!

> (In reply to Chris Craggs)
>
> How's the size of the NEX 7 - it felt quite big. I have (an unrealistic) idea of being to put a pancake prime on it and stick it in a pocket...
>
> I like the design of the fuji but the price of the sony! there's £150 in it so far as i can see.

Well it is all comparative. I have bought the 16-50 power zoom which makes the whole package pretty compact, I carry it in a hip-holster. I got the lens for £140 off eBay (brand new stock).

Most of the time I use the X-E1 in manual mode, with Auto ISO up to 6400. It's really neat as the camera uses ISO to get exposure right at the shutter speed and f-stop you want (so Its a 'modern verion' of Manual when using AutoISO). I love the feel of the camera and the dials and the very clever/cool implementation of manual, shutter and aperture priority modes.

"A young good looking kid walks in the door. Tattered 501&#8242;s. Grease stained tee. Three days of scruff. He walks with confidence. All the ladies take notice of him. The cougar den at the table next to Sony, Oly, and Pana all perk up and freshen their lips and shorten their skirts. His name is Fuji and everyone but Leica avoids making eye contact with him. Leica turns on his bar stool and gracefully nods his head to Fuji. Fuji, knowing he’s in good company at the bar, fires a grin and a wink at the old man. Leica sees himself as a younger man in this Fuji kid. Back before he opened his stupid boutique stores and started a line of t-shirts and baseball caps. (Leica should have never listened to his old friend Ferrari.)"

In reply to AndrewHuddart:
Read this thread by chance - bit bored at work - and thought I'd check out the cameras mentioned - being a bit of a photo taker in the past.
Having seen the prices of them, before adding on any fancy lenses it looks like I'll be sticking with the old Pentax ME Super (and the accompanying out of focus,under/over exposed photos) for the forseeable future.

In reply to AndrewHuddart: I bought the NEX-6 a few months ago and have loved using it. The kit lens is quite a lot smaller than the one that comes with the 7, so the overall package is smaller. You'll have to find the exact right case to be able to comfortably carry it on a route. I haven't yet and my current case is a bit too bulky to want to put on my harness/rucksack. Still, the images have been stunning (with a bit of lightroom post).

Chris, have you ditched the dSLR's then? I'm really tempted by the Fuji, must admit I'm getting a bit tired lugging the dSLR about and the length of that zoom would cover most of my stuff which is landscape to pics of the kids and the odd gig and portrait shot. Love my wee X10 so I know the user interface well. Given your previous evangelic zeal for the RAW (which I share!!) are you really convinced by the jpegs? What about in strong contrast when you'd expose for the highlights and tease out the shadows post pro?

Reckon flogging my 70-200 f4L IS would take a fair chunk out of the pain...

The Fuji is my carry everywhere compact. Great for kids and fun stuff where you just want to capture the moment.

The Fuji (great as it is) can't yet compete with the old Canon and L lenses (used the Canon it at the weekend for village Gala and the IQ & lens range is still way ahead). And the FF DSLR is still a joy to use. And RAW is the way to go from my Canon

But, yes, the Fuji jpegs are amazing - I just treat them like RAWSs in LR5 (tried to match the Fuji jpgs in LR5 from Fuji RAW and failed!). But I think that is a function of just how good the Fuji in-camera conversion is (unlike many other camera makers) and how not-very-good LR5 is at dealing with the X-Trans sensor. I'm a PC user, but if you are on Mac, then http://www.iridientdigital.com/ is meant to be the top dog for Fuji-X RAW conversion.

The Fuji seems to have a big DR and deals with high contrast scenes really well in jpeg. Just point and it kind of does what it needs to do.. And the sweep Panaorama is great, and the high ISO and the Auto-Iso combined with Manual....I could go on....

In reply to Dispater:
Would agree with you if I wasn't thinking of getting rid of the whole Canon dSLR kit.I'm coming to the conclusion that photography has to fit round my lifestyle not the other way about and carting all that gear doesn't work. All the decent work I do is never at length and generally on the move as well.

Aye the gut reaction would be to do that.... no' sure the wife would agree. Guess another option would to be to replace the walk around lens to an L lens, but I don't have a FF Canon, it's the 50D nice kit but still a muckle beast to take on the hills or wandering about. I will investigate further on the RAW convertor as I have a Mac and can have a play with the X10 RAF files.

Your kit should indeed work for you rather than visa versa. The best camera is always the one you have with you and the slr just can't go everywhere.

Moreover, a lot of DSLR owners use them solely with the kit lens and in full auto and dervive barel ny benefit from them but so long as they're happy, no harm done and more money for the manufacturers for r&d!

I''m not suggesting that you fall into this category at all by the way.

Having had both the Sony and Fuji in hand, I really like the Fuji and will be making the purchase in the next few days.

I was tempted to wait for the x-M1 on size but although it's smaller it lacks the top end processor and has the same AF and sensor so maybe not...

My second shooter t an event a couple of weeks ago had an x-100s which gave some cracking shots so I'm having fewer and fewer reservations about the idea of leaving the big canon behind for trips. I'm waiting form the invoice to be paid for that job and will them spend it forthwith, all to avoid unnecessary and taxable profit you understand - I'm sure my accountant would support it if I asked him...

By looking at teh photos of the M1, it looks like it lacks some of the controls of the E1 that make it so good (don't call me out on hat, just guessing from the pictures!). Also, I'd much rather have the optical viewfinder of the X100s or Pro over the EVF on the E1 - cna't quite get into it.

The X100s' dual mode view finder was a treat on the bright and sunny day we had. Even with the brightness all the way up, the screen was difficult to use so even an EVF is better. The construction on the M1 is more plastic orientated as well and I'm a big fan of durability because I buy camera gear to use it and this will get a little moderate abuse which it needs to be able to cope with.

I'm going to get my hands on both the Pro and E1 very shortly and will let you know what I think...

Looking at the shots over the past few years it's mostly urban and trad postcard landscape, a few portraits, some gig work and family stuff so I'm really questioning the need for the features the dSLR gives me versus the bulk and general faff. I don't do nature or sports as well so do I really need the length of the 70-200?

Talking myself into the X-E1 here!! Probaly save a for a prime when I'm in the States next year as well.

X-M1 looks nice, do need a viewfinder though, still a bit old school there.

Chris, how are you finding the focussing on the X-E1? I'm not seeing any forum hysteria about any of the new ILC X series models, but there is some persistent low level grumbling about the AF being a bit hit and miss.